July 23, 2010: Short And Sweet NYC Daniel Bernard Roumain: Woodbox Beats &
Balladry by Chandra Jones "Both classical and hip hop infused, atmospheric
and world, Roumain is a mastermind of a violinist and composer.
The clarity in sound and execution of play is remarkable. The ability
to use the violin in an ambidextrous onslaught of rich sound astounds."
June 2010: Black Grooves Woodbox
Beats & Balladry
by Ann Shafer "...his gift lies in understanding the full musical possibilities
of all of his instruments, turntables and drum machines included,
and DBR has a composer’s ingenuity for making them work together
in innovative and expressive ways..."
May 10, 2010: Encore Haitian
Drums Meet Frankenstein Violin? by Lindsey Rose "What do Haitian kompa music, the Bronx and Viennese
compositional schools have in common? They’re all influences
Daniel Bernard Roumain cites as inspiration for his newest album,
Woodbox Beats and Balladry."
May 5, 2010: JazzTimes Daniel Bernard
Roumain – Woodbox Beats & Balladry "Noteworthy in this recording is that the wizardry
that penetrates the synth programming, electronics and turntablisms
never detracts from the single line beauty of the violin..."
April 15, 2010: Lucid Culture CD
Review: Daniel Bernard Roumain – Woodbox Beats & Balladry "You might think that juxtaposing elements of
classical, heavy metal, the avant garde, ambient music, jazz and
dance music might be ridiculously jarring – instead, Roumain
makes it all work, with a defiantly out-of-the-box sensibility and
tersely tuneful style."
April 9, 2010: Examiner.com April
New Music in Jazz "Roumain fits well into what Gunther Schuller
would call the Third Stream (the fusion of jazz and classical music),
but then again, with the addition of samples, drums beats, and overall
defiance of category, perhaps he skipped into Fifth Stream territory."
April 8, 2010: MyMusicStyle.net This
Weeks Best Albums "Woodbox Beats & Balladry is a highly dynamic
album, calling upon elements of IDM, piano balladry, and Vernon
Reid-style wailing on top of Roumain's standard amalgamation. It's
an outstanding album whose adventurousness perfectly fits the 21st
Century."
March 2010: All Music Guide Woodbox
Beats & Balladry
by Phil Freeman "...this is Roumain's show, and it's overwhelmingly a melancholy
and quite beautiful one."
March 31, 2010: Knight Arts Broward's
Own 'DBR' Charts Crossover Course by Gregory Stepanich "It could very well be that Roumain... really
does provide a new synthesis that a wider audience can relate to,
one that speaks more directly than any individual style to the citizens
of the global
village."
March 30, 2010: Alarm Press Daniel
Bernard Roumain: Woodbox Beats & Balladry "Woodbox Beats & Balladry is a highly dynamic album,
calling upon elements of IDM, piano balladry, and Vernon Reid-style
wailing on top of Roumain’s standard amalgamation. It’s
an outstanding album whose adventurousness perfectly fits the 21st
Century."
DESCRIPTION
Haitian-American violinist/composer Daniel Bernard
Roumain (DBR) continues to establish himself as one of today's most
relevant artists on the contemporary classical music scene. An innovative
violinist, composer, performer, re-mixer, and band leader, DBR has
won world-wide acclaim for his eclecticism and fearless exploration,
whether through extended violin techniques, the infusion of electronics,
or in his perspectives on the definition of chamber music.
On Woodbox Beats & Balladry (Thirsty
Ear Recordings), his profusion of classical composing and performing
talents are uniquely exposed. Echoing his own career, Woodbox
Beats & Balladry contains elements of classical minimalism,
dance club beats, traditional ballads, and thick distorted noise.
Fitting coming from an artist who has performed with everyone from
the Seattle and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, to the dancers Bill
T. Jones and Savion Glover, to the composers Philip Glass and Derek
Bermel, to DJs Radar, Scientific, and Spooky, to the jazz singer
Cassandra Wilson, the pop-singer Lady Gaga, and the infamous 2 Live
Crew.
Woodbox Beats & Balladry is aggressive,
danceable, and fully annotated. DBR's style and compositional process
are reflected in his scoring of each and every track on the album;
he uses a variety of compositional techniques and notation systems,
including traditional, numerical, graphic, and prose-based notation.
"Woodbox Beats & Balladry is an amalgam of what contemporary
composers are doing and where contemporary classical music might
be going," says DBR.
The core of the recording (and impetus for the
album's title) is DBR's signature custom 6-string amplified violin.
While utilizing an array of extended techniques, effect pedals,
and additional MAC-based processing, DBR's frequent aggressive,
percussive lower-string bowing (an extra two strings are added to
his instrument for bass lines) makes his violin a vital sonic and
compositional force.
Woodbox Beats & Balladry features
all original material and arrangements composed and performed by
DBR and members of his touring ensemble including laptopist/turntablist
Elan Vytal (a.k.a. DJ Scientific). As an example of how contemporary
classical structure collides with experimental electronic dance
music, DBR's Sonata for Violin and Turntables is a musical
exploration between classical, concert music in the violin and hip-hop,
commercial music in the turntables. "It's an attempt to honor
not only the first and second Viennese schools of Europe, but to
pay tribute to the Bronx and the waves of inventions that that music
sent to us," explains DBR. Since DBR and Vytal have been touring
Sonata for Violin and Turntables, the project has received
critical praise. The Boston Globe said, "Both performers
brought a combination of unabashed earnestness and quicksilver musical
wit." The Washington Post raved, "The music was
involving, tonal and eminently accessible, steeped in the wash-rinse-repeat
cycle of minimalism but sexed up considerably with hip-hop rhythms,
jazz riffs and imaginative collaboration."
